Return of Hope
Return of Hope is the first installment in The Zahaki Saga Epic Series by BZPower and C.I.R.C.L.E. member Zahaki. Prologue "Every living thing has a beginning, and an ending... Yet, despite these natural laws, there are... some who don't believe in that law." An Onu-Matoran walked into a room, drenched in shadow. With a glance around the chamber, he confirmed that the only thing visible to his eye was the window located to his left. He did a half-turn and groped at the wall to find the light switch. Click. Walking over to a small desk, he sat down and slowly turned to get a better look at his room. It was a small, stone room. In the centre of the room sat his desk, where he was seated, and to his right was a bookcase -- right beside the window. To his left, his bed sat. It was built low to the ground -- no more than one-sixteenth of a bio above it. The Matoran swung back around to look at his desk. Scattered on were a few notes, a book entitled "The Sweet, Sweet Life of a Toa", a lamp which sportingly featured a Lightstone -- albeit, one covered in dust that showed signs of its' age -- and a data recorder. With a small sigh, he picked up the recorder and pressed "Record". :"Hey... It's me, again. It has now been a week since me and my fellow Matoran had to leave our homes to live with the ‘Creators of Stone’... the Po-Matoran. The Turaga won't tell me what's going on, nor why we had to leave our homes. But I have decided on my next action -- no more waiting for them. I'm going to find out myself." The Matoran released the button and sat back into the chair, brooding over his decision. Was it really the smartest idea? No, he decided. Someone had to know... Someone had to be thinking "What's going on?" and if something was wrong, he was the only one with the right mind to do something about it. His mind set, he jumped up out of the seat and moved over to his bed. There, he reached under his bed to pull out a blade, which sat in a sheath tied to his leg. He ran to the door to his room, and before he left, he took one more time to look around. It took only a second, but it hurt. And with that, he switched off the lights and ran off into the night towards his village. It was a freezing, damp night. Shadows jumped from the few light sources available in the village. The Matoran had been walking for about an hour or so now, cloak wrapped around his neck and shoulders, and he could see the entry to his village. Above his thoughts sat one curious one -- the night was dead quiet. This was strange, and almost any other Matoran would have caught onto this. But this Matoran did not. Being a sub-terrain dweller, he had spent most of his time underground... and the only Rahi he heard underground were mole-like creatures and rats. Another two hours passed before he finally reached his village. He smiled to himself, looking at his feet. Now that the walk was done, the hard part was up -- getting inside. Before the exodus, the Turaga collapsed the doorway to the village, blocking the only way in or out. Looking up at the portal now, the Onu-Matoran stood there puzzled. Stone wasn't his strength, Earth was. Any Po-Matoran could have found a path through the rubble in seconds. Work from the bottom, like he was used to, and everything would tumble down. If it didn't crush him, he'd just have to start all over again. Work from the top? Could work, but even then you were asking for it. Last time a Matoran did that from his village, the rocks above him gave way and caved him in. By the time they got to him he was dead. At that moment something caught his eye off to his left, right near the wall of the entrance. It was a stone slab, maybe the size of a Toa -- the enigmatic protectors of the Matoran that had long been absent from the world. More importantly, off to the side of it, was a small gap... about small enough for someone of his size to get through. With a small smile, he got down on his knees and stared inside the apparent tunnel that sat before him. It was too dark, but searching the dust and debris on the ground granted him a dying Lightstone, which he used to illuminate the path before him. It looked like it went straight into the village, and it was the only way that wouldn't take forever and a day. With a resentful sigh, he crawled inside. Moments later the Matoran was once again standing within the cave he had once called his home. His fists clenched around the Lightstone he held. This has the effect of brightening the stone, raising his effective sight by threefold. Uneasily, he left his old home. He felt apprehensive walking around his village; never before had he been so... lonely. The streets were empty, the once-familiar sound of a friendly "Hello." echoed around his mind. The darkness that was once illuminated by the gigantic, hanging Lightstones felt crushing. Of what he saw, the village was actually in perfect condition. To clarify, what he did see was the ground below his two feet. The hanging Lightstones were dimmed but there was an overhanging tower where he could reactivate them. From there he might be able to figure out just what the Karzahni happened here. Back at the entrance to the tower, the wind fell silent. The shadows seemed to intensify around the fallen stone and rubble, shifting and twitching like a hungry Rahi. If one listened closely, they would swear that maybe there was a silent whisper floating through the air. And from the darkening shadows and rubble a long, lanky creature emerged. It let out a low hiss before dropping its' nose to the ground, attempting to pick up a scent. Dark spines rippled on its' back, and the hunt was on. The Matoran set down his Lightstone and pondered. He had no idea what he was meant to do. He had spent the past five minutes staring down at the control panel. There was nothing that made sense; just levers which he could only theorize were for controlling brightness and rotation. But power? He wasn't a scientist, he had been a miner -- upper body strength, you see. He dealt in physical strength, not mental strength. In an outburst of rage he kicked the terminal. The Lightstone he had brought jumped and rolled forward, coming to rest over an old, rusted lever that had a small patch that simply read "Lightstone Control Station". With a resentful smile he flicked the switch, and from the edge of the overhang he saw the village illuminate under a soft blue-tinted light. It had always puzzled him, how they could make these things go on and off. From what he knew, you just had to give them a good whack. A small scuffle behind him suddenly alerted him of danger, and he spun around, his hand snatching the knife from its' sheath. He raised his arms in a defensive position, prepared for attack. A rat shot out of the darkness, and ran past his foot, petrified. It disappeared into the darkness beyond his Lightstone... and then it seemed to vanish. The scampering sound halted suddenly. Curiously, the Matoran took his Lightstone and walked in the direction the rat had been running. It was gone. He shivered, ever so slightly. This was wrong. Was this why the Turaga had forced them to move? Slowly, he worked his way down the stairs, knife in one hand and Lightstone in the other. He threw the stone down the stairs ahead of him; no need for it now that the village was again illuminated. Reaching the ground again, he looked over the village once more. It was devoid of life. Why hadn't the place been infested by pest Rahi and Mata Nui knows what else? Now he knew something was deadly wrong with the village. He started moving quicker; his steps were light but fast. His heartlight started flashing quicker. Internal body temperature rose by maybe a degree. And suddenly the lights fell dim again. It struck him just how in over his head he was. But that wasn't the only thing that struck him. Everything from there was a blur; as the lights faded, he tumbled to the ground. His knife skittered away into the darkness. This place was more than wrong; it fought against everything right. Simply being here was killing him. With a grunt he rolled over. His back screamed with pain like white fire. The Matoran gasped for breath. He found none. He looked to the ceiling, to the now-faint Lightstone above him. A shadow seemed to crawl over it... A trick of his eyes? No. It leapt at him, and he thought no more. The creature's glazed-golden eyes rested on the pitiful pile before it. They were unnatural; pupil-less and rippling, the way that a pond rippled when someone dropped a stone in it. Had its' master been anything like the Matoran it had killed, his armour would have crawled off of his bones long ago. But the master was nothing like the dead Matoran before him. The master was omnipotent in comparison. He leaned down to his creature, whose spine lit up as it seemed to crawl along its' body. "What do you think of the taste? Metallic, bitter, dead?" He chuckled softly. "Soon, it won't matter what the Matoran taste like. It won't matter where they live, what they think... nor even if they exist." His creation tensely slithered up his body to look into his sickly green eyes. "Finally... my plans are coming together." Chapter One "In the absence of light, only darkness prevails. But everybody needs a hero and even against all odds there are some who will fight for what they believe in. Their name is Toa. " Gahlok Bay. Perfect skies, beautiful ocean views and a perfect, serene atmosphere, the only sounds being the ambient chirps and barks of Rahi. The bay was located north of Ga-Nui, the village home of the feminine Water Matoran. The bay, however, had been deserted for the past two full moons. The desolate village was slowly being overrun with pest Rahi and unkempt vines and weeds, the flowers living up to their "wild" name. All of this was about to change, though. There was a kind of electricity in the air, the kind that foretold destiny... A small boat sat atop the waves, slowly drifting closer and closer to the shore. Excluding the Squall resting on its' edge, the only other beings within the boat were resting. They... lay... one-and-one-third bio tall each, with varying, powerful shades and shapes of armour. Only one of the six stood tall, at the prow of the boat. His sight carried towards the highrising ahead, where the island lay. With a quick, over-the-shoulder glance, he observed his still-sleeping comrades. The Squall leapt into the air with a squaaa! sound to join its' comrades in the sky. His gaze followed it up and the birds flew over his head, cruising just above the water, hungry for fish. His attention refocused on the island, to study it from a distance. From what he could see, the "island" seemed to be a series of islands in fact. The one to the far left featured a huge, towering volcano, while the righthand island was encompassed by a vast, lush forest, likely full of every kind of Rahi imaginable. The island they were headed towards was the smallest. All he could see of it was the beach where they were soon to land. The series seemed so ordinary, innocent... But it gave him a bad feeling. As the boat sailed closer to the shore, the being turned around and sharply kicked the closest sleeper. "Wake up! We're almost there," he muttered gruffly. "Okay, tell me when we are there," the now-awake, green-armoured being moaned, rolling over. For a gleaming red being, their leader featured an icy look. Bending down closer to his green friend, he reconciled his strength and shouted: "WAKE UP!" Everyone woke up. "What's with the racket?" The night-black one called out. "Hot-head was finally living up to his name!" the rocky-armoured one laughed, getting to his feet. "Watch it! You'll make us tip over!" spat the white one, irritation in his voice. The final being, bright-eyed and blue-armoured, sighed. She couldn't see how anybody was supposed to work with this group without losing it. They started getting louder and louder, and she got more and more irritated, until finally she got up and said at the top of her voice, "Let me know when you get there!" With that, she leapt overboard and started to swim to the shore. The others just stared at her, watching her swim away. "What's wrong with her?" the green one said, glancing over the side of the boat. "Maybe she saw a To-ish," the brown one chuckled. The green one turned and looked at him, with a brow raised. "That wasn't funny." "No It's wasn't!" the black one agreed, slumping down on the edge of the boat. Bright-eyes looked back at the boat and smiled, rising out of the sea. She felt the water run down her arms and legs and sink into the sand as she stepped onto the beach, taking in the serenity. It took her a few seconds of admiration to understand why it was so quiet. "Are we too late?" she whispered ominously, her usual soft voice gaining a mature edge. She eyed a small hut and strode towards it. She was most of the way there when she heard a small crash behind her. She turned around long enough to witness a humorous sight -- her five other teammates all violently tumbling down onto the beach and squabbling between each other. "Mata Nui," she sighed. At times like this, she would raise her head to the sky and question why the Great Spirit had teamed her up with a group of such Muaka bait. She watched them attempt to get up for a moment before turning back to the hut. Tentatively, she walked up and lightly rapped her knuckles on the window. "Who's there? Speak or suffer!" a distorted voice called out. "I'm Kaora, a... Toa of Water," she replied, a little hesitantly. "Impossible! There haven't been Toa around here for years!" the voice argued back. "Then come out and see with your own two eyes," Kaora said sweetly, hoping that the Matoran -- at least, she hoped it was a Matoran -- would come out. And as Kaora hoped, she did. Kaora was almost as surprised as the Ga-Matoran. Slowly, the Matoran removed an intricate device hastily made of seaweed and light grass. "I can't believe it. Can it truly be -- have the Toa come?" the Ga-Matoran whispered to herself. Her voice sounded weak, as if she hadn't used it in a long time. "Yes, we have... though I would have preferred a different introduction." Kaora sighed under her breath and turned around to witness her brothers, by trade, not by family, removing various parts of their armour to clean them of trapped sand. "Is this it?" the brown Toa grunted, looking at the dense, rugged forest behind the beach. Forests didn't work well with him. He preferred open ground, stone beneath his feet and in his hands, not boggy, marshy forests. "What were you hoping for, Rokahn? A sand pit?" The black Toa beside him rolled his eyes sarcastically. "If you knew the answer, why did you ask the question?" he shot back. "Will you two stop it? You've been at it since we jumped on that boat!" the white Toa interjected. "You two are brothers, more then any of us! I mean, Rokahn, you're a Toa of Stone! And you, erm..." "Onuki," the dark Toa said, crossing his arms in disappointment. "Sorry. Well, Onuki, you're a Toa of Earth. You two should have a special bond!" "Yeah, real special. Hey, Onuki! Can, you, Un-der-stan-," Rokahn started. He never finished, though, as Onuki tackled him to the ground. "Will you guys ever be nice to each other?" the Ice Toa shouted at them. "Only when Kikanalo fly!" Rokahn shouted back, trying to wrestle his brother off of him. Kaora turned back to the Matoran and sighed. "I see what you mean." The Ga-Matoran didn't smile. "So, what brings you to my homeland, mighty Toa?" Kaora opened her mouth to answer -- and then leapt to intercept a huge Rahi that sprung at the Matoran. She threw the Matoran to the ground and rolled to dodge the incoming living missile. "Where are the rest of you?!" she shouted back at the group. Rokahn threw Onuki off of him and rolled to his feet. With a blind charge he brutally tackled the tiger-like Rahi to the ground. Onuki, his cooler-headed, less-forward brother, followed him to tear him off of the Rahi. "You do know you have no weapons on you, right?" Rokahn watched the Rahi as it recovered and roared at him. And with a sheepish smile he ran back to the group shouting, "Get the others! Not me!" Rokahn sprinted past Rihku, who wore a grim smile. "And ideas?" he whispered to Lewaka. Lewaka nodded. "Circle it. It'll run." The Rahi stood between the Toa and the forest, sizing them up. Any trained Toa could take it and win, but inexperienced, weapon-less Toa? Suddenly its' neck snapped around and it ran after the Matoran, who had broke cover from the hut and gone for the forest. No chance for thinking. Everyone went into first gear. Rokahn and Onuki both ran, as Lewaka ran for the hut, and Kaora, Taraki, and Rihku all started shouting to get its' attention. The tiger-Rahi pounced. "Get down!" Kaora shouted helplessly. The Ga-Matoran was thrown into the forest as she and the Rahi disappeared from sight. Neck and neck, the brothers of Stone and Earth charged in after them. Lewaka had leapt on top of the hut and from there bounded into the higher canopy of the forest. The trees stopped ruffling after only a few seconds, and al; went quiet. Taraki slumped to the sand. "First job as a Toa and we've already failed." Deep in the forest the Ga-Matoran kept light on her feet, trying to stay ahead of the raging Rahi, but this wasn't an easy task. The further she got, the denser it became, branches reaching out in the Matoran's path. The Ga-Matoran knew she couldn't last any longer and stopped, turning around and facing the Rahi head on. "Treehugger, can you seen them?" Rokahn shouted spotting Lewaka, jumping from one tree top to the next. "Nothing, I say they went deep-wood," he replied jumping to a lower branch. "Great. Just Great. How could we have lost them? We were right behind them," Onuki said sitting down on a fallen log, catching his breath. "They're over here," a voice came through the forest, as Rihku push the shrubs out of the way revealing the tired Toa. Taraki, Kaora, and Rihku walked into the small opening looking around. "Where is the little one?" Rihku asked, his telescopic lens searching. "We lost them," Rokahn sighed, hanging upside down on a branch. Kaora's Xaea bore a worried look, as she glanced into the dark forest behind the group. "We can't give up, we'r-" Kaora never got to finish her plea as the bushes started to move violently. Rokahn's branch snapped sending the Toa to the ground, the others surrounded the bushes ready for what was about to come, or were they? Out of the bushes popped out the Matoran. "Toa! What took you so long?" The Toa looked at each other, trying to figure out what had just happened. "How did you get from there, to here?" Rokahn said pointing back and forth. "Kind of easy really. That Rahi was only an herbivore." "Oh... I thought you looked like a big-green-leaf," Rokahn joked. The others still had questions, Kaora was the first. "If that's so, why was it after you?" "A few days ago I was over on the west island, and I collected some flowers. When I stopped, the Rahi came right up to me sniffing around my pouch. When I pulled the flower out it took it without hesitation, and ran off deeper into the forest." "I've never seen Rahi act so violently over a flower." "I would have agreed with you on that one Toa, yet the islands have became dangerous. For all species that call this home -- Matoran and Rahi." Kaora turned to Taraki, yet he already knew what she was going to say. He nodded to her and walked up to the Ga-Matoran. "I speak for my fellow Toa when I say, ‘We're here to help.’" Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Characters *Mata Nui (Mentioned Only) *Zahaki (Not Mentioned By Name) *Taraki *Lewaka *Onuki *Rokahn *Rihku *Kaora *Sadaska (Not Mentioned By Name) External Links *Return of Hope Category:Epics Category:Zahaki